On Friday morning I said, “I have an iPhone Boner.” I was so excited to get my new phone, I even got up way early. Well it was way early for me.
We arrived at the AT&T Store before 7am, they opened at 8. I had to work, so did my GF so we didn’t want to be long. The line wasn’t too long, we were 41 and 42 in the line, I counted. The AT&T people were gracious enough to give us water and show us the phone, it was sweet.
AT&T would tell us everything about the service, what we needed to do, what info we needed to have they even answered all of our questions regarding scenarios of how to upgrade. Seemed we were good. I had a lone v2 iphone, my plan my name, my gf had an iPhone on a family plan that she was authorized to make changes on.
Then iBricks hit, iTunes was locking up. We stood in line for 3 and a half hours until the lady from AT&T said, “no iPhone for you.” We were right next to the door, they had sold out.
It was too late to drive to the apple store in King Of Prussia, and we were getting reports of at least 150 people in line, thanks @callaflower.
We got up just as early on Saturday, drove the 40 minutes to KOP lined up in front of the apple store. We were 25th in line. About 8:15 apple reps came out and started giving post-its to eligible persons, but it seemed as if only 1/2 the people in line could get a phone… They were telling us the following:
No discounts anywhere on your plan, must have your OWN credit card, must be the primary on your account, didn’t matter if you were authorized or not, no business accounts.
We were getting conflicting reports. It seemed if you wanted to buy a phone, go to Apple, but if you wanted it to work on your account without having to bend it over and take it, you had to go to AT&T.
Why so many different stories? Why couldn’t AT&T get it straight with Apple. And the worst part was, Apple didn’t have a resolution, AT&T had a way to get the phone on your right account once you had the phone, but Apple didn’t have a way for you to get the phone without starting a new account.
What should have been done was this. Apple reps at the AT&T stores and AT&T reps at the apple stores. Allow the transaction to go smoothly and both work together. It’s bad enough we are tied to this network that might not possibly work for everyone, but now we have to jump through hoops and answer 3 questions from a troll before we can get the damn phone. You couldn’t buy it as a gift for anyone.
Apple freely admits that AT&T got screwed with the first version as people took the phones to other networks, and maybe that’s just wireless company’s faults for making it so hard to get out of a contract. I can’t remember a single cell phone I kept for more than a year. Even my previous iPhone which was the best phone I ever had up until today, I only had that for 7.5 months.
The iPhone is going to have it’s fans, and it’s going to sell millions and make AT&T and APPLE some money. But really, does anyone want to be held hostage for 24 months?
Apple and AT&T probably won’t work together too much on this release, If you want to get an iPhone. Go to Apple, buy the iPhone and create a new account. Take your phone to AT&T and move it to your new account, get your number on it and get a new SIM. You can cancel any AT&T account within 30 days for no charge, and Apple will gladly take the phone back if it doesn’t work.
The iPhone 3g is easily the best phone I’ve ever had, the apps are amazing, 3G is blazing fast, the GPS has it’s bugs but if you are in 3G area, it looks like it knows where you are going to go instead of just where you are. Twitterific is awesome, though right now it won’t open so I have to figure out wtfis wrong with that. I also like JOT and I can’t wait to try Shzzam or whatever it’s called. Plus light sabers are awesome.
All in all I have a new 3G iPhone albeit a day later. My gf also has hers and it’s on her family plan so she can save some money as well. But really, AT&T and APPLE need to get their act together and need to work together more, one hand can’t not talk to the other and expect this partnership to just work, that’s not going to keep customers happy.
When asked the biggest problem with the iPhone, people say AT&T first. But really, Apple can’t just play dumb here either.
